Recent changes in legislation and tax rates

2024/25 budget 06-Mar-2024

 An additional 2p reduction to the main rates of employee and self-employed NICs from 6 April 2024.

👉Abolishing the current tax regime for non-UK domiciled individuals, replacing the outdated concept of domicile with a simpler residence-based regime. Under the new regime, anyone who has been tax resident in the UK for more than four years will pay UK tax on foreign income and gains, as is the case for other UK tax residents. This is a much simpler and clearer test, with less scope for ambiguity than the current system. The new regime will no longer rely on the remittance basis, removing a source of complexity that incentivises individuals to keep income and gains offshore in the current system. 

👉 Announcing the end of the Alcohol Duty Stamps scheme following a review by HMRC. Removing the scheme represents a simplification for the spirits industry which has faced associated cost burdens and complexity. 

👉 Abolishing the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime from 6 April 2025, meaning short-term and long-term lets will be treated the same for tax purposes. Individuals with FHL and non-FHL properties will no longer need to calculate and report income separately. 

👉 At Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced the removal of the requirement to pay Class 2 NICs and committed to abolishing Class 2 entirely. The government will consult on the details of the reform later this year. 

VAT: increase the registration threshold to £90,000 and the deregistration threshold to £88,000 from 1 April 2024.

Capital Gains Tax: cut higher rate for property from 28% to 24% from 6 April 2024.

Starting Rate for Savings: maintain at £5,000 for 2024-25.

Business Rates: extend the Empty Property Relief ‘reset period’ from six weeks to three months (thirteen weeks) from 1 April 2024.